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Java > Open Source Codes > org > apache > hivemind > schema > Translator


1 // Copyright 2004, 2005 The Apache Software Foundation
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//
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// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
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// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
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// You may obtain a copy of the License at
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//
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// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
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//
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// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
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// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
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// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
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// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
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// limitations under the License.
14

15 package org.apache.hivemind.schema;
16
17 import org.apache.hivemind.Location;
18 import org.apache.hivemind.internal.Module;
19
20 /**
21  * Object which can translate a string into an object value. This is used to
22  * translate attribute values (or element content) from strings into
23  * numbers, booleans or other constructs before assigning the final value
24  * to a propery. Translation occurs after symbol substitution.
25  *
26  * <p>
27  * Translator classes should have a public constructor that takes no
28  * arguments. They may optionally have a second constructor
29  * that takes a single string as a parameter. When the
30  * {@link org.apache.hivemind.parse.DescriptorParser} encounters
31  * a <code>translator</code> of the form
32  * "<code><i>translator-id</i>,<i>initialization-string</i></code>"
33  * (example: "int,min=0") it will use the second constructor, passing
34  * the initialization string.
35  *
36  * <p>
37  * Generally, initializion strings are of the form
38  * <code><i>key</i>=<i>value</i>[,<i>key</i>=<i>value</i>]*</code>.
39  * Each initializer has a set of keys it recognizes, other keys are simply
40  * ignored.
41  *
42  * @author Howard Lewis Ship
43  */

44 public interface Translator
45 {
46     /**
47      * Invoked by a {@link org.apache.hivemind.schema.Rule}
48      * to translate an inputValue into an appropriate object.
49      * Substitution symbols will already have been expanded before this method is
50      * invoked.
51      *
52      * @param contributingModule the module from which the input value originates
53      * @param propertyType the type of the property to be assigned by this translator; smart translators may
54      * be able to automatically convert from string to the correct type
55      * @param inputValue the value to be translated, either an attribute value or the content of the element
56      * @param location the location of the inputValue; used to set the location of created objects,
57      * or when reporting errors
58      */

59     public Object JavaDoc translate(
60         Module contributingModule,
61         Class JavaDoc propertyType,
62         String JavaDoc inputValue,
63         Location location);
64 }
65
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